Rescue crews say fire on British Airways flight put out in five minutes

Emergency crews in Las Vegas say training and preparation helped them put out a jetliner fire and evacuate a British Airways flight at McCarran International Airport on Tuesday (September 8) in five minutes.

 

The British Airways jetliner engine caught fire as the plane was about to take off for London, forcing all 172 passengers and crew to escape down emergency slides as smoke and flames engulfed the aircraft.

 

"Just less than five minutes complete time from the time we received the phone call, the fire was out, completely in check and all personnel were evacuated off of that aircraft safely. In total we transported 27 patients to area hospitals with minor injuries, mostly from going down the slide. It's not something that's very common for a person to do, especially on very short notice. All those patients were transported and just minor injuries," explained Clark County Fire Department Chief Greg Cassell explained at a news conference on Wednesday (September 9).

 

Several passengers needed hospital treatment for minor injuries after the Boeing aborted takeoff with one of those present saying smoke caused people to rush to the front of the plane, sparking scenes of panic.

 

Clark County Fire Department Captain Mike Atchley, who was on duty when the call came in, said rescue crews knew right away this was an urgent situation.

 

"Once we got the call from the tower we knew we had a fire. We could tell in the tower's voice that he was calling for an alert three which is a confirmed fire. We knew before we even opened the barn doors that we had something. Soon as we opened the barn doors we were looking straight at the aircraft just a short distance away so we knew we had a major situation. Our guys know immediately to go out even without direct instructions, how to place the rigs immediately so it takes a lot of pressure off the commanders. All the crews surrounded the aircraft and our primary goal was to get the fire extinguished but we have to get a safe path for the occupants to get off the aircraft so we had to push the fire away from those getting off the aircraft and it worked very well," Atchley said.

 

Airport officials say the aircraft is now on a parking pad on the airfield and will remain there for investigation and inspection.  — Reuters